Vast gasoline lines form in oil-rich Venezuela
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Andres Quintero, left, and Fermin Perez rest on top of Perez’s car as they wait in line for over 20 hours to fill their tanks with gas in Cabimas, Venezuela, on Thursday. U.S. sanctions on oil-rich Venezuela appear to be taking hold, resulting in mile-long lines for fuel in the South American nation’s second-largest city, Maracaibo.
MARACAIBO, Venezuela >> U.S. sanctions on oil-rich Venezuela appear to be taking hold, resulting in mile-long lines for fuel in the South American nation’s second-largest city, Maracaibo.
Russ Dallen of the Miami-based brokerage firm Caracas Capital Markets said today that Venezuelan produces roughly 15 percent of capacity, as output falls.
It already had been declining before the Trump administration this year hit Venezuela with sanctions to force socialist President Nicolás Maduro from power. Dallen says those measures are starting to cause more pain as Venezuela’s refineries also collapse under decay.
Some motorists say they’ve had to wait 24 hours in line. Maracaibo physician Yoli Urdaneta says she’s been trying to fill up for four days so she can get to work.
She says her empty tank puts patients’ lives at risk.
